Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the Fly Fishing Forum forums, you must first register.
Please enter your desired user name, your email address and other required details in the form below.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

Log-in

User Name

Remember Me?

Password

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.

Additional Options

Miscellaneous Options

Automatically parse links in text

Automatically embed media (requires automatic parsing of links in text to be on).

Rate Thread

If you like, you can add a score for this thread.

Topic Review (Newest First)

01-23-2001 08:16 AM

tomd

RE:Weed Removal

LOL

01-22-2001 09:02 PM

ssully

RE:Weed Removal

Man I can imagine the hits the site will take when this thread is hit by a search engine.

01-22-2001 10:22 AM

striblue

RE:Weed Removal

You are right about the different weed conditions and my approach will not work with mung... but is good for the predominant weed we encounter, the stuff we see on the beaches ..the long flat shafted grass. But the weedless fly would be great under those conditions.

01-22-2001 09:34 AM

juro

RE:Weed Removal

John - isn't it nice to have a place where huge ocean bass roam on sugar sands smooth enough to drag flies in? Cape Cod coastal anglers are lucky for sure.

Another approach I use is to purposefully snap a backcast like a whip (but not too hard), which often throws the debris.

Some flies hold weed better than others, so I switch designs in weedy situations if it doesn't compromise the fishing.

If the weed is laying on the bottom, I use a line that will keep me above it; if it's running hard in the main current I'll sink the fly below it unless they're breaking when a popper would be a good choice.

There are different types of ocean weeds to deal with - fragments of leafy weeds and mung, which probably has a scientific name but the backside regulars will tell you it stands for "monkey dung". Looks just like it but twice as sticky. Thank goodness it doesn't smell like it too. Anyway it will cling to every blood knot and loop and shroud your best flies to look like a two pound poop.

Here's a way to remove weed from your hook. There is nothing more frustrating than having to stop after every retrieve to take weed off . What I have done, and purly by accident out of frustration is cast the fly onto the beach and drag it several feet on the sand. This will remove the weed that is wrapped around the hook 90% of the time,usually on the first drag. I sometimes have to do it several times with large clumps. If the hook has penetrated a shaft you will normally have to use the old method of stopping and removing the weed by hand. The weed usually will be removed by the stiking the sand or a drag along it for difficult snag. Sure ,you will be casting more by the end of the day but you will have gotten into a rythim and have more fishing time. This also eliminates the frustration of removing the weed by hand and then droping the fly to begin your next cast only to find that you've hooked up again in the wash .